Revenge on the Stone
by CodeNaruto
Summary: Naruto and the rest of Team 7 are assigned a mission to take out a mysterious figure causing havoc in the Land of the Stone. First story, so please be generous. I'm rating it kind of high because of future content I may be publishing. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey, so my first story. I wanted it to be an adventurous, epic story on Naruto, as my my two favorite writing subjects are Code Lyoko and Naruto. Hope you enjoy! I'll try to post a chapter every now and then.

"Revenge on the Stone"

Chapter 1: New Mission

"Baachan! Baachan! When's my new mission?"

"Quiet, Naruto. My head already hurts from too much sake yesterday." Tsunade was talking with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi in her makeshift office after the Pain fight. "Your new mission will be in the Land of Stone. There has been incidences of raiding by a suspicious man who bears the headband of a Rogue Ninja, a mask that shows only the top of the nose up of his face, and a black cloak that erupts in flames at his command. He has caused mass murders and invasions of small villages. The Tsuchikage and the Feudal Lord are worried that this man is of the Akatsuki and will soon engage in large scale attacks. They specifically asked for Naruto because of his experience fighting Pain. You must leave within 24 hours. Dismissed."

As the team of four left the office, Sakura became a little worried.

"I sure hope this isn't the Akatsuki. We've just about finished rebuilding from their massive offensive. If you hadn't talked to Nagato, half the population would be dead, Naruto."

"Well, Sakura-chan, if they asked for me, I'm sure we can beat this Rogue Ninja."

"Baaka! Don't get carried away just because you beat Pain. May I remind you that you both were close to losing."

"...Thanks for that rain on my parade."

"Don't worry, Naruto," Sai said. "I believe in you. With the rest of Team 7 by your side, no one can stop us."

"Very true, Sai," said Kakashi. "Friendship and teamwork are the two crucial elements of a successful team."

"We'll, I'd better get a good night's sleep for our big trek tomorrow," said Sai.

"Yes, we all should. We leave at sunrise tomorrow morning. Meet at the village gates at 3:00 A.M.," announced Kakashi.

"Will do, Kakai-Sensei. Sakura-chan, wanna come with me to Ichiraku's for ramen?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Alright! See ya, Sai. Bye, Kakashi."

The two pairs waved goodbye to each other, Sai and Kakashi heading home and Naruto and Sakura heading to Ichiraku's.

As they waited for Ayame to take their order, Sakura poked at Naruto, "What if one of us can't make it back?"

Naruto unwillingly took his eyes off the menu to reply, "Huh? We always make it back. We're ninja!"

"Yeah, but what if our luck runs out? It's almost a ninja's duty to die in battle. We can't avoid it forever."

"What are you worried about?"

"It's just...the thought has kept coming back to me a lit lately with the extra powerful foes we've faced and will face. Like Pain. I had thought you were going to die or be consumed by Kyuubi."

"You heard Sai and Kakashi, Sakura. As a team, we're unstoppable!" Naruto replied while Ayame set two bowls of steaming hot ramen in front of the two.

"I know just...don't do anything stupid. You have a knack for that."

"Relax, Sakura-chan. I've become a lot smarter, dattebayo!" Naruto said as he slurped up the smoking ramen noodles. "HOT! HOT!" he shouted as he began to rub his tongue with his hands.

Sakura gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, smarter," she said with a roll of her eyes.

After the noodles cooled down and the two wolfed down their dinner, Naruto walked Sakura home to her temporary tent and then went to his own. Sakura got ready for bed and dozed off with a final thought.

"Be safe, you baaka."

AN: Thanks for reading! I intend to add another chapter soon, so please be patient! :)


	2. Journey to the Land of the Stone

AN: Not too bad for fittest at few days. 43 three views and 1 review. Now to address that review:

Lord of the Spartan- thanks for reviewing! I will try to make mychapters longer, like this, but I can't assure they'll be as long as other stories'. Well, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Journey to the Land of Stone

Three of the four ninja met up at the village gates around 2:58 A.M. Naruto, the most unpredictable ninja, though he was very predictable in this case, was 10 minutes late of the scheduled meeting time.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. When I finished making my breakfast instant ramen, I accidentally SPILLED it! Then while I got dressed upstairs I put on another serving to eat, but I took too long and BURNED it that time! Then I-"

Sakura hit him in the face. "Stop with the stupid excuses as get here on time, dimwit!"

"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow. S...Sakura-chan."

"Nevermind it now. We must leave for the Land of Stone immediately," Kakashi stated. The four now assembled ninja left on their long journey to fulfill their mission.

*Meanwhile, in the Land of Stone.

"Another down," said the rogue as he threw another bleeding body onto the ground. He looked out from his spot on a cliff to see a town burning in flames. Fires he had set himself. The heavy downpour was beginning to put them out. "Revenge is good." The man walked into the cave behind him. Before going to sleep, his eyes opened wide in surprise, but they soon gleamed with pride. "Ah, so they believe some Leafs can stop me? They certainly don't know me yet." With that, he dozed off into a deep slumber.

*Back to our heroes

"What was that?" Sai asked. "It sounded like a shadow clone broke its jutsu."

"Maybe it was Naruto. He went out to look for food," stated Sakura. The group surrounded a campfire while Naruto was out looking for their dinner. Before long, they heard his signature, "Sakura-chaaaaaaaan!" as he burst through the trees with a wild turkey in his arms and a bag full of fruits and nuts.

"Nice, Naruto! We'll eat well tonight!" exclaimed Sai. "By the way, did you use any shadow clones to search for the food?"

"Well I used two to search for the fruit and nuts. The turkey I brought down myself."

"See, Sai?" It was nothing."

"I still don't know. What do you think, Kakashi-Sensei?"

"I think we should eat," though there was still a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"I don't care what we do as long as I get a turkey leg!" Naruto said happily. The four sat around the campfire eating their serving of turkey, fruit, and nuts from Naruto's findings.

As they finished and set up the tents for bed, Sakura asked, "When will we arrive in the Land of Stone?"

"If we leave at dawn tomorrow morning, we'll make it there by noon," Kakashi explained.

"Great! Now I can show my stuff to that rogue guy, I'll double my pace! No, triple! May even-"

He was cut off by a blow to head from Sakura that sent him flying 30 feet down the trail. "Now you sound like Lee!"

"Ow...Sakura-chan, can you not hit me please?"

"Alright you two," Kakashi said. "Let's get some sleep." Naruto slowly and painfully walked back the thirty feet to the tent area. He flopped down onto his soft cot, already asleep. The others had some trouble sleeping due to his constant muttering of, "Ramen...ramen...ramen."

The next morning, the group awoke and ate the rest of the turkey for breakfast. After bringing down their camping equipment, they started their long walk to their destination, just passing the Land of the Stone's border. Soon, their tall evergreens and oaks surrounding them turned into mountainous slopes and canyons. They silently walked through a canyon, seeing the two walls encase them entirely.

"Katon: Fireball No Jutsu!"

A giant fireball flew at them from the top of the canyon while the words echoed off the rocky walls. The four of them dodged the fireball, and it left an equally large explosion behind it. All four were safe, but Kakashi and Sakura "poofed" away.

"What?" the fire-style user said, confused. He let out a death shriek as Kakashi's chidori sliced through his chest. The man fell into the canyon below him next to Naruto and Sai.

"Chunin mistake, " Kakashi mumbled.

Sakura was behind him, her expression tense and alert for other enemies. "Don't worry, Sakura. It seems he's the only ninja within the area. It was a fatal mistake to go alone." Sakura relaxed and looked down below.

"Hoy! Naruto! Sai! Are you okay?"

"You know it, Sakura-chan! The shadow clones dispersed, but that was the only problem!"

"Okay! See what the guy has on him and continue down the canyon. We'll start walking again in five minutes!"

Sakura shouted. Naruto and Sai walked over to the now dead ninja and examined his body. He had short and straight brown hair and hazel eyes. He wore the classic combat outfit, like Kakashi's, but with his land's color version. When Sai studied the man's head, he gasped.

"What is it Sai?"

"This man...is from the Stone! Our employer!"

"Hold on, what? Why did he attack us?"

"I don't know. I would think he would check our identities before attacking."

After looting the body to find 5 kunai knives, 4 paper bombs, and 10 shuriken, Naruto called out, "Hoy! Sakura-chan! Kakai-Sensei! We have something to tell you about the body!"

"What is it?" Kakashi replied.

"It seems he's from the Stone."

"What?!" Kakashi and Sakura exclaimed simultaneously.

"I don't know. Let's keep walking and ask when we get there," Sai reasoned. The four agreed to move on and walked slightly faster to avoid any other attacks. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Naruto then created the two other shadow clones to pose as Sakura and Kakashi.

AN: Review and tell me what you think!


	3. Confrontation

AN: Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I wanted to catch up in my chapters. I've written up to chapter 5, and will try to post a new chapter weekly or biweekly. And I will try to make the chapters longer, so you guys have more to read. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Confrontation

"Ah, I've finally arrived. It was starting to get boring," said the masked criminal. "This is the biggest town so far, but it shouldn't be a problem. I can't wait to get even more revenge," he smirked. He slid down the cliffside he was residing on and left to attack his new targeted town and its citizens.

"Whew. I'm really tired," said Sakura as she limped into the town. Followed by Kakashi and Sai, who resembled her limping state, and Naruto who was literally running circles around them. "That extreme stamina of yours really gets annoying at times!" she growled, but she didn't want to waste strength by punching him across town. Then again...nah, too tired. As Sakura was still mulling it over, Team 7 was met by a fat old man with short gray hair and round glasses.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Sachi. Welcome to our humble village," the old man said with a smile.

"Hoy! Nice to meet you, old man Sachi!" Naruto said with a wide grin and a hand raised to his head, forming a salute. Sachi frowned disapprovingly at Naruto's nickname for him.

"Err...I suppose you are the man who summoned us for our mission?" Kakashi asked.

Sachi turned to him and said, "Yes, I am. I am very worried over the safety of my town and its citizens. May we go inside?" He motioned towards a small, one-story building behind him.

"Of course," said Kakashi. The four followed Sachi into the elegant building. Inside there was soft white carpeting, two black, leather L-shaped couches, a large gray granite coffee table, and flowers in each corner. In another small room to the right there was a nice kitchen with smooth black granite countertops.

"Wow!" Sai said in amazement. Sakura was speechless over the beauty of the living room with the couches. Naruto, of course, had his eyes glued on the kitchen.

"Old man Sachi! Do you have ramen?" he asked excitedly.

"Maybe. If you stopped calling me old man!"

"Well, that's just my generic name for people who are older. What else should I call you?"

"Well, you could...uh...maybe...ah, just stick with old man."

"Hai, old man Sachi!" Sachi still cringed when're he heard that.

"Down to business then," Sachi said. The five sat down on the couches, and Naruto placed his bowl of instant ramen he found in the cupboard on the coffee table. "I heard from ANBU spies that the suspect for all of the recent disasters is close to this town. I'm very worried. He will target us."

"Has your town done anything suspicious that would anger an enemy?" Kakashi asked.

"No, and neither did the other towns that were attacked. I can't explain it."

"As your reports come in, forward them to us. We need as much information as possible."

BOOM! A series of explosions went off surrounding the building. The walls caved in and the giant ceiling began to fall. "Sharingan!" Kakashi used his powerful Mangekyo Sharingan to absorb half of the ceiling, so everyone was okay. "Sai! Monitor the skies! Sakura, Naruto! Calm everyone down and find the source of the explosions!"

"Hai, Sensei!" They all shouted. Sai quickly drew a large eagle, which then cane to life off of its paper and flew off with him on its back. Naruto and Sakura ran out into the smoke-filled streets. People were screaming and running frantically around.

"Calm down, please!" Sakura shouted, but further explosions drowned her out.

"Is there anyone nearby?" Naruto shouted over the slowly lessening sounds of screaming.

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

Still surrounded in smoke, Naruto cast his jutsu: "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" A clone appeared next to him and began to form a rasengan in the "real" Naruto's hand. The smoke began to clear slightly when Naruto's jutsu completed. "Massive Rasengan!" He raised a huge ball of spiraling blue chakra above his head, clearing the smoke within a 50-foot radius of land. As both his jutsu and the smoke dispersed, they saw their suspected enemy, with his rogue headband, mask, and cape, standing above them on a nearby rooftop.

"Hmm. I haven't seen that jutsu before," stated the shadowy figure.

"Have you been the one who's causing chaos in the Land of the Stone?" Naruto interrogated.

"Why yes, I am. Why would you guess?"

"You're outfit gives it away, baaka."

"Then I should change it sometime in the future. It's not very polite to call someone to just met an idi- OOF!" The man was kicked in the stomach and launched quite far way to the very outskirts of the town. Even Sakura was impressed. Standing where the villain just stood, and also where much roof shilling used to be, stood Naruto in his Sage Mode.

"It's also not polite to do what you've been doing," Naruto said angrily with his fists clenched. He jumped down from the rooftop and got into battle position to defend Sakura. He broke the jutsu and his two shadow clones accompanying Sakura disappeared. "I'm here to make peace. And you're just the guy to make the opposite."

"Do you think I care?!" screamed the man in rage. "You have no idea of my intentions. You couldn't even begin to feel the torment I've felt because of this nation!"

"I have a good feeling its for revenge, isn't it?"

The villain stood there, shocked. "How did you guess?"

"Because that's the reason everyone on this anime goes on a rage."

"What?"

"Er, I mean..." Naruto stuttered. "Because I've felt it before."

"You're a leaf ninja. What would you know?"

"I know the pain of having no one to love and to be loved. The pain of solidarity. Of being lied to. I'm the one who understands your pain the most. Sasuke does, too," Naruto said, an edge of emotion coming off "his" name. "Your actions are understandable. Revenge blinds you and takes you off the path to happiness."

"Then join me. You snuck up on me, so you're strong. We can fulfill our vendettas!" the man said.

Naruto stated him down. "I finished my vendetta. And I chose not to kill my target." The man stared in curiosity at Naruto's slitted yellow eyes and orange eye liner, if you will. "Instead, I chose the road of peace. A journey I'm here to continue by stopping you."

The man was infuriated. "You...you traitor! You had your revenge! Even though you're an insult to avengers everywhere, you said my actions were justified! And you dare denounce me now?!"

"I said your actions were understandable. I never said they're right." Naruto took a step forward. "In the name of my Sensei, I'm here to stop you. I'll bring peace to this world one day."

A shadow clone of Naruto, that Naruto made before confronting the man, creeped from behind a building.

"There is no such thing as peace! My own story is a perfect example!" The clone got closer, pulling a kunai out if his small supply bag on his waist. "You can't just talk to me and tell me to let revenge go! Your fantasy dream can't break away my reality hatred!" he shouted. Closer...closer... "Stop while you're ahead, kid. I have no use for idiotic and naive children!" The clone lunged forward with the kunai ready to slice the man's throat. This action was followed with roundhouse kick from the man who sent the clone flying into a wooden shack, collapsing the roof and walls on top of it. Turning back to look at Naruto, the two heard a slight "poof" indicating the broken jutsu. "I'm a ninja master, trained by Orocgimaru himself! A dimwit attack like th-"

"YOU were a subordinate to Orochimaru?"

"The best jutsu user in the world!"

In about half a second, Naruto had run up to the man and held him up in the air by his throat. The man gurgled something unintelligible.

"How long ago?" He said, loosening his grip.

"I...agh...left...a year *hack* ago."

"Then you must know Sasuke."

"Ah, that *cough* emo fellow you mentioned before? How *hack* could I forget?" The man formed a hand sign. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Two shadow clones appeared to the right and left if the raised man. Naruto, surprised, was kicked and punched back to his standing point with Sakura, and the two clones dispersed. He only got angrier. "But if you want information, you have to defeat me first." This time, the man but his thumb, causing blood to spill out, and formed a few hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" he cried out, and 2 large snakes, perhaps 30 feet long and 8 feet wide. They both began to destroy shops and buildings with their enormous tails. Suddenly, Sai came flying over head with his drawn bird. With Naruto locked in a stare down with their antagonist, Sakura greeted him.

"Sai! Down here!"

Kakashi sprang up from the roof of a building, chidori in hand, and dolphin-dived towards the man.

He responded with: "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" Kakashi, in mid-air, was engulfed by the flames. Behind the villain, the real Kakashi, sprinted towards the battlefield, also with a chidori in his hand. Feeling he was not noticed, he attacked, but soon rolled back to Team 7 due to an uppercut kick from the man.

"Silly back-stabbing attacks won't work on me!"

"Sai, Kakai-Sensei! There are two snakes demolishing the city!"

"No sh**, Sakura!" Kakashi and Sai both said.

"You go take care of them. I'll take on pyro-guy over here," Naruto said.

"Be careful, Naruto! Sage Mode doesn't last forever!" Sakura said while running in the direction of the snakes' destruction, followed by Sai and Kakashi.

"I know," Naruto whispered. He could already feel the Nature Energy weakening. Now it was a one on one duel between the two. "Before we start, what's your name?"

"Hiroki, why?"

"The author is getting tired of calling you 'the man'."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Lets just do this."

Simultaneously, the two ninja formed a familiar hand sign and said the usual "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Fifty shadow clones appeared on their respective sides. Both sides charged. The battle had begun


	4. Wrath of the Serpents

AN: Here's chapter 4. Enjoy!

Chapter 4:

"So...how are we supposed to stop these huge things?" Sakura asked while running alongside Kakashi and Sai.  
"Sai will distract them from above with his bird. Sakura, you will take advantage of their distraction and use your strength to knock them off balance, and I'll come in for the kill," Kakashi explained.  
"It sounds so simple," Sai commented.  
"Easier said than done," Kakashi muttered.  
Sai brought out his scroll and brush and began to paint a large bird. "Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!" There was a poof of smoke, and the drawn bird sprang out of the scroll. Sai jumped on and soared above. Sakura and Kakashi split up. She followed Sai's bird to the snake he was targeting while Kakashi snuck behind a house to assess the situation and find a time to strike. The snakes swung their long tails into the air to get Sai, but he kept a safe distance. Seeing her chance, Sakura charged the snake while channeling large amounts of chakra to her right fist.  
"CHAAAA-OOF!" Sakura was knocked off of her feet and crashed into a building.  
"Sakura!" Sai shouted from above. With this, his elevation lowered, and a snake bit the tail of his bird. Kakashi exploded with speed as he grabbed Sai from the air and returned to his hiding place. Sakura, who had landed rather close to Kakashi, crawled over to join them.  
"What now?" She asked.  
"I'll use a shadow clone to distr-" Kakashi started. A gigantic snake tail smashed down in their direction and created a deep crater. The tail began to sweep in their direction. The group ran wildly in the opposite direction. Sakura, who injured her right leg when flying into the shack, tripped and was captured in the snake's scaly tail. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her two teammates turned around to see Sakura face-to-fave with the demon. Sai instantly flung out his scroll and began to draw two birds while Kakashi grabbed a handful of paper bombs from his back pocket.  
"Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!" The paper bombs attached to the two newly created birds as they launched towards the snake's head. Suddenly, the second snake darted in front if their target and took the hit of the birds. It hissed in anger and slithered quickly towards it's attackers.  
Sai and Kakashi barrel-rolled to opposite sides if the incoming snake. Regaining their feet, they both threw a kunai into the snake's skin. It twirled around and dashed back in the direction it came.  
"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Kakashi unleashed a torrent of water into the snake as it passed by. The snake flowed along with the water quite a ways deeper into town. Having finished with the other snake, for the time being, Kakashi a d Sai raced back to Sakura who Watson the verge of suffocation at this point. "Mangekyo Sharingan!" Kakashi opened his left eye wide, which held the symbol of his black hole Mangekyo. Aiming towards the end of the tail prisoning Sakura, the tail split in half, and Sai ran over to catch Sakura from falling. Before long, the snake's tail began to reform. Even though his tail was back, he didn't seem any happier at the three ninja below him.  
"What's going on?" Sakura asked  
"They must be some resurrected snakes or test subjects of Orochimaru's," Kakashi explained while covering up his left eye. Like always, his Mangekyo Sharingan took up a lot of chakra. He could activate one more chidori before he had to conserve whatever chakra he had left to survive. Now, (how lucky they are) the snake Kakashi had washed down the village alley had made its way back, and the two snakes successfully surrounded their prey.  
"Well...it sure was nice knowing you guys," Sai gulped.  
"Sage Art: Massive Rasengan Barrage!" Two Narutos flying through the air, holding some pretty big Rasengans in their hands, successfully hit one snake, which crashed into the other. They were both launched into a nearby cliffside where a large amount of debris fell on them. The snakes darted out at top speed aiming for one Naruto. He uppercut-kicked one snake into the  
air while the other Naruto pile-drove the other into the ground. As the airborne snake crashed into the ground, both Narutos grabbed the tails of their respective snakes and threw them as far as they could into the sky, where both snakes broke their summoning jutsu. "That should do it," they both said simultaneously. Sai, Sakura, and Kakashi all sighed in relief.  
"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Sakura asked.  
"We're just shadow clones," one said. "The real Naruto is over there in a huge battle. Bye!" Both clones disappeared, but Team 7's eyes were glued onto the scene unfolding in the town. Massive amounts of fire and chakra filled the air. Explosions could be heard faintly from their position.  
"Let's go!" Kakashi said. They all scrambled to their feet and began to run towards the calamity.  
"Naruto!" Sakura thought. Tears streamed down her face. "You'd better be alive!"


	5. Battle of the Vengeful

AN: Hope this is long enough. i tried my best on this chapter.

Chapter 5: Battle For Peace

"Let's do this," Naruto said. His face was completely serious. His eyes bore into those of Hiroki. Both formed a hand sign and said, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Fifty shadow clones appeared on Naruto's side and the same on Hiriko's side. "You two, go check on the others," Naruto whispered to two clones. "They're summoning animals, but their chakra indicates that they're ressurected. Use all means necessary to get them out safe."  
"Yes, boss!" The two clones saluted him and ran in the direction of the destroyed city. Naruto turned back to look at Hiroki. "Charge!" he shouted, and both sides began to run at each other. Kunai hit kunai and shuriken hit shuriken. The shadow clones were evenly dispersing on each side. As they fought, one shadow clone caught a glimpse of something in Hiroki's eye before dying. The information was mentally transmitted to Naruto, and he became puzzled. Eventually, only Naruto and Hiroki were left, the former being much more tired than the latter. Not even close to giving up yet, Naruto bit his thumb, formed a few signs, and slammed his palm to the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" His two companion frogs showed up next to him . "Hoy! What's going on Naruto?" Gamakichi asked.  
"No time to explain! We need to launch the water pistol! Back me up, Gamakichi. Gamatatsu, get ready!" Gamatatsu began to channel chakra into his belly to unleash a water-style jutsu. Naruto quickly jumped onto his back. He laid one hand on Gamatatsu's back and one raised just above his head. Looking up slightly, he saw Hiroki moving his hands into signs. Luckily, he felt Gamatatsu's chakra releasing and channeled his Wind Style into it.  
"Wind Style: Toad Water Pistol!"  
"Fire Style: Searing Flame!"  
Both combatants unleashed their jutsu unto one another. Naruto's precise shot of water and Hiroki's horizontal column of fire collided, causing the two opposing elements to shoot up into the air at their collision point. Unfortunately, Gamatasu's water supply was running short and couldn't keep up the jutsu. As it failed, Hiroki's fire jutsu consumed the remainder of the water, easily turning it into steam. The small, concentrated stream of fire erupted into a gigantic ball of flames as it came closer to Naruto and the frogs.  
"Guys, go home! I've got this!" Naruto said. Naruto's words fell on deaf ears because the two toads had broken the jutsu before he even spoke. "Bunch of cowards," Naruto muttered as the flames cornered him. He stood his ground as the flames got closer...closer...closer...until, "I hope this works," he thought. He began to swirl chakra in his hand and released it in the direction of the fire. "Wind Style: Wind Tunnel!" The swirling wind currents created a tunnel-like shape within the fire and allowed Naruto to safely pass through the flames.  
"You're skilled, kid. I'll give you that."  
Naruto only growled half-heartedly. He was exhausted. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Another fifty shadow clones appeared next to Naruto. Hiroki looked on with interest as half of them began to form spiraling spheres of blue chakra. "That's a new jutsu," he thought. "And he has a lot of chakra to reform that many clones so quickly." After forming 30 more clones himself, the battle raged on again.  
"RRRAAAAAA!" Naruto and his following platoon of clones charged. The two sides clashed yet again. Hiroki and his set of clones were skilled fighters. They launched random fire jutsus into the crowd if Narutos, but they were overwhelmed by the new tactic and quickly fell victim to the Rasengan. Hiroki flew backwards after being hit by a Rasengan himself. His clones had been defeated, leaving 5 still with Naruto. The real Naruto charged from behind. "Let's go! Help me with the Rasen Shuriken!" He gritted his teeth and ran at full speed. As two clones began forming his Wind-Style jutsu in the hand Naruto swung behind himself, the other three clones flanked him. When the Rasen Shuriken was in full form, the clones forming it dispersed from exhaustion. The four remaining Narutos continued to race towards Hiroki. Two clones sped ahead and pulled out kunai knives. Hiroki engaged in battle with them. Each clone took one side of Hiroki, but he sensed the attack and slipped paper bombs out from his sleeves. The resulting explosion destroyed the clones. With Naruto only a few feet away, the remaining clone dashed towards Hiroki to make another sort of diversion. It made the fatal mistake of looking into Hiroki's eye.  
"Wind Style: Rasen Shuriken!" Naruto flung the upgraded Rasengan towards Hiroki. Instead of victory, Naruto's face was full of surprise as he saw his own clone dive in front of his attack. The Rasen Shuriken exploded with the clone. Both Naruto and Hiroki went flying backwards from the power released. As the explosion and noise died down, Naruto propped himself up on one elbow, breathing heavily, as Hiroki began to stand up. He seemed tired and his clothing had rips in it. Now, Naruto had lost his orange eyeliner and his eyes were a faint yellow-blue color, signaling his near-end of Sage Mode. Naruto became enraged. He slowly began to stand up himself. Knowing he was almost out of Sage Mode, he decided to risk another chance at the Rasen Shuriken even in his unstable state. "Kage...Bunshin...N-No Jutsu!" he said as he took deep breaths. Two clones appeared next to him and formed yet another Shuriken in his palm. Using what energy he had left, he ran forward to Hiroki. He bore his eyes into Hiroki's, and he began to feel the pressure of exhaustion. Soon, the Shuriken faltered and exploded in his own hand. Naruto howled in pain. He saw red all around him, and when looking at his hand, blood covered it as well as his entire forearm.  
A figure appeared behind him. "You put on a good show," Hiroki said as he held a knife to Naruto's neck. Naruto turned around with a look if defiance. He was greeted by two Sharingan eyes. "Gifts from Orochimaru. I was once his chosen body, but an incident occurred." Naruto threw his head back to hit Hiroki in the jaw. "I wouldn't move too much if I were you," he snarled as he brought the knife closer to Naruto's neck. A trickle of blood started to fall from an opening the hole had made. "AH!" Hiroki squinted his eyes and yelled in pain. Keeping a strict hold on Naruto, he turned around to see who had thrown the kunai into his arm.  
Kakashi had his Sharingan ready, Sai had two drawn tigers flanking him, and Sakura's fists were overflowing with chakra. "Let him go," Kakashi demanded.  
With a sigh, Hiroki let Naruto loose and quickly reappeared on a rooftop. "I have successfully destroyed this town, though there weren't as many fatalities as I anticipated," Hiroki said. "I have no doubt we will meet again, talented ninja." With that, he quickly jumped over rooftops into the outskirts of town.  
"H..Hey guys," Naruto said. Still shaken up from his arm wound. "It's like my arm exploded." Surprisingly, when he looked down, his arm wasn't as bad as he had thought. Still covered in blood, yes, but the injury was less serious.  
"He must have used genjutsu to intensify your pain. Not hard to believe since he's a Sharingan user," Kakashi said. After helping Naruto up, the three others transported him to a nearby medical center that wasn't destroyed by the snakes' attack. After running tests on Naruto's arm, a nurse informed Team 7, "It seems he has some muscle and ligament damage. He'll be in a cast for at least a month."  
The three walked down the hallway leading to the waiting area and then walked outside the hospital. "Now what do we do?" Sakura asked.  
"You heard the nurse. Naruto's injured. Luckily, with that Nine-Tails healing, he'll be back in shape by next week," Kakashi said.  
"The thing is, though," Sai started, "do we have that much time to ask for?"


End file.
